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Teacher Certification Program
Black Hall 208-9
(509) 963-2660
teachercertification@cwu.edu

Application Process

  • You may apply to the Teacher Certification Program at any time after you have been accepted to CWU. We encourage you to apply as early as you are interested to begin receiving communications and support. Applications are processed only on the 1st of the month so delayed communication is to be expected.
  • If you have attended colleges or universities other than CWU, you need to send CWU official transcripts as soon as possible in order to meet the academic pre-requisites. We cannot accept unofficial transcripts for the Teacher Certification Program.
  • If you took the SAT or ACT and did not send the scores to CWU then we request your full score report be attached to the application. This optional attachment, allows us to fully evaluate your application for admittance. You cannot save the application and then go back so try to access your College Board account before you begin. There are links in the Basic Skills drop down item below.
  • After your application has been processed you will get an e-mail informing you of your program admittance status and missing requirements if applicable. Any missing items with additional instructions will remain on your To-Do list in MyCWU until you have met that requirement.
  • Updates to program admittance status happen several times during a quarter.
    • Basic skills test results are updated as we recieve scores from Pearson.
    • If you have a grade change mid quarter you can e-mail teachercertification@cwu.edu after it appears on your transcript to have your program GPA re-evaluated.
    • At the end of every quarter, the Teacher Certification Program completes a full review of admittance status after grades have posted.

Apply to Teacher Certification Program

Requirements for Full Admission to the Teacher Certification Program

  • 3.0 for overall CWU/transfer cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) OR the last 45 graded quarter credits
    • Whole terms will be used which may exceed 45 quarter credits.
    • You can find your CWU/Transfer GPA in your AR Report
    • None of the GPAs listed in your AR Report labeled as last 45 credits are used as your program GPA. We do not know how those are calculated.
  • Academic Course Pre-Requisites

    You must pass one course from each area. You can check your AR/CAPS Report in MyCWU to see if you have met that requirement. If you have an AA/DTA your transfer credit report or unofficial transcripts submitted with your application will be evaluated based for the specific courses. It is uncommon, but your DTA may not cover the specific list of courses allowed in either of these general education requirements. Click on the link below for the current Course Catalog.

    If you would like to look for courses that may transfer from other institutions, the Office of the Registrar has resources to assist you. The Teacher Certification Program will officially verify this record.

    If your Academic Writing 1 and/or Quantitative Reasoning course grades are a C or higher this may also help you meet the Basic Skills Requirements below

  • Basic Skills Tests for Reading, Writing and Math

    Basic Skills Requirement- Washington requires a test attempt for reading, writing and math. Teacher Certification Program at CWU then is allowed to have our own requirements above that minimum standard.

    You may mix and match any combination of SAT/ACT/WEST-B test attempts to meet that requirement or other approved equivalent tests. Test attempts for each area are still required if you meet the Basic Skills Requirement by Option 2 or Option 3.

    Options to meet Basic Skills Requirement
    Reading Writing Math
    Option 1- Test only SAT

    500 (through 3/4/2016)

    27 (beginning 3/5/2016)

    490 (through 3/4/2016)

    28 (beginning 3/5/2016)

    Did not exist before 2006

    515 (through 3/4/2016)

    27.5 (beginning 3/5/2016)
    ACT 22

    8 (through 8/31/2015)

    23 (9/2015-8/2016)

    8 (beginning 9/1/2016)

    		 22
    WEST-B 235+ 235+ 235+
    Option 2- Test attempts and General Education courses you must still attempt an SAT/ACT/WEST-B reading, writing and math test before using coursework.

    Academic Writing 1

    Pass course with a C or Higher

    Academic Writing 1

    Pass course with a C or Higher

    Quantitative Reasoning

    Pass requirement with a C or Higher
    Option 3- Test attempts and alternative courses you must still attempt an SAT/ACT/WEST-B reading, writing and math test before using coursework.

    One of the following:

    --EDLT 289 (2 credits)
    --Retake Academic Writing 1**

    One of the following:

    --ENG 289 (2 credits)
    --EDBL 289 (2 credits)
    --Retake Academic Writing 1**

    One of the following:

    --MATH 164 (5 credits)
    --MATH 226 (4 credits)
    --Retake Quantitative Reasoning**
    **Any courses used for Option 2 or Option 3 to meet the Basic Skills Requirement must be passed with a C or higher

    Help reading the Basic Skills Table:

    Option 1: You must attempt a test for each subject and meet the required score to meet the Basic Skills Requirement in that subject.

    Option 2: If your test scores are not high enough, then your grades in Academic Writing 1 and/or Quantitative Reasoning need to be a C or higher meet the Basic Skills Requirement in that subject.

    Option 3: If you have still not met the Basic Skills Requirement after evaluating your test scores and course grades you may use the additional course options.

    You are also able to mix and match any of the above options! EX: You can meet Reading with Option 1, Math with Option 2 and Writing with Option 3.

    If you can locate your previous test results, attaching them to your application would be appreciated. Attaching your score reports is not an application requirement. If you have score reports to attach, please title them LASTNAME_testscores. You may have luck finding your score reports if you follow the links below:

    WEST-B scores

    SAT scores

    ACT scores

Full Admittance Status

  • Full Admittance Status will be awarded to applicants that meet all program requirements.
  • Full Admittance Status is an academic pre-requisite for later education courses. You need to contact the department that offers the course you are enrolling in if you have difficulties.

Conditional Admittance Status

  • Conditional Admittance Status may be awardeded if GPA is below 3.0 and/or you are missing any of the admission requirements
  • Gives you the opportunity to enroll in early education courses.
  • You are on the program roster and you will not have to re-apply to the Teacher Certification Program if less than two years in conditional status.
  • Must be fully admitted before you are cleared for Student Teaching.
  • It is your responsibility to contact the Teacher Certification Program when you have met additional requirements. You can look at your "to-do" list in MyCWU for missing requirements including having your GPA recalculated. Please give the Teacher Certification Program enough notice so that your GPA can be recalculated in time for course registration as the recalculation of your GPA takes time.

Check our our FAQs section about Admittance Status

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Updated 12/19/2022